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Straphangers: M23 city's pokiest bus

By Marlene Naanes, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | MNaanes@am-ny.com

October 31, 2007

Slow and steady may win the race, but try telling that to bus commuters hoping to make it across 23rd Street in Manhattan.

The Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives gave the M23 the sixth-annual Pokey Award for its average speed of 4 mph at noon during a single weekday test ride.

Meanwhile, the M-1, which connects Harlem and the East Village, earned the groups' newest award, the first-ever Schleppie, for least reliable service. One-third of the route's buses have big gaps in service or run off schedule.

Crosstown buses are especially slow, earning the top six slots for slowest buses, according to the groups' statistics.

"In the middle of the day you have to wait 10 minutes," said Myrna Baldinger, a 10-year veteran of the M23. "It's faster to walk at times."

The next slowest was the crosstown M34, which clocked in at an agonizing 4.3 mph.

One of the best ways to curb slow bus speeds would come through the mayor's congestion-pricing plan that would charge drivers who enter Manhattan's business district, said Transportation Alternatives executive director Paul Steely White.

The plan could thin traffic, fund bus improvements and raise hundreds of millions in transit-improvement funds, he said.

The groups also advocated for expanded Bus Rapid Transit programs that include wider bus lanes that physically impede cars from entering and traffic signals that give priority to buses.

Transit officials said they are working with the city transportation department to bolster bus service through rapid-bus projects.

Already, New York City Transit is testing technology on Staten Island that allows buses to turn traffic lights green as they approach an intersection.

The transportation groups determined the slowest bus speeds by riding what they previously ranked as the slowest 23 buses in the city. They rode the bus routes from end to end beginning at noon on weekdays between mid-May and October.

The Schleppiest buses were determined using New York Transit City statistics that measure how well--or, in the case of buses on the list, poorly--buses adhere to scheduled times and intervals.

The pokiest buses by borough:
Bronx: Bx19, 5 mph
Brooklyn: B63, 4.9 mph,
Manhattan: M23, 4 mph
Staten Island: S61, 11.7 mph
Queens: Q56, 6.1 mph

The Schleppiest buses by borough:
Bronx: Bx41
Brooklyn: B15
Manhattan: M1
Staten Island: S78.
Queens: No bus met the criteria.